Things are not off to a good start for the Thor sequel.

According to Deadline, Patty Jenkins was set to direct the sequel to the original after Kenneth Branagh decided to pass on it.  Now, with a November 15, 2013 release date hanging in the air, Ms. Jenkins has left the production over reported “creative differences.”  (Hollywood-speak for she wasn’t getting along with someone.)  Reportedly she may move on to another Marvel movie, but it will more than likely will be the first in a series as opposed to a sequel.  About the only thing certain at this point is that Chris Hemsworth will be back in Thor 2 in the title role.

This is one of the issues with the new Hollywood model of picking a release date and then working backwards from that goal.  If the slightest thing goes wrong, you then have to scramble to try to fix things as you don’t want to lose your locked date.  It’s like a 21st century version of a land rush as everyone wants to stake their claim to a weekend and hope that no one else picks it in an attempt to usurp them.  Although, in this case, I’d say move it.  November is not a month known for comic book film adaptations and November 15 of any year just seems an odd time to release a film like this.  Of course, Marvel has already laid claim to two dates in the summer of 2014 already that they haven’t even announced what the films will be yet.

Having finally watched Thor on a recent cross-country flight for business, I have to say it was a far better film than I expected, and probably the best Marvel film since the first Iron Man.  (I just watched Captain America on the flight back from England and wasn’t quite as happy with it although I didn’t hate it.)  I’m not even a big fan of the comic series and I enjoyed the movie, so I have high hopes for a strong sequel, but this is certainly not the way to get it off of the ground.

[via Deadline]

Hitting theaters on May 4, 2012, The Avengers is one the most eagerly anticipated comic book films of all time. So, why not start the marketing campaign now?

The first trailer for The Avengers was just released, and while it doesn’t give away everything we’ll see – rumors still persist the Skrulls are involved – it certainly gives us a lot to look forward to.  Besides seeing Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) and the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) all together, it’s nice to see that Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) will be doing more than just walking around saying cryptic things.

And, yes, that is indeed Loki (Tom Hiddleston) from the Thor film in there as well.

Considering how long Marvel has taken to work up to this film with numerous movies building the mythos, here’s hoping it pays off large.  Plus, on a personal level, I would love to see director Joss Whedon just blow everyone out of the water with the work he does on this.

With 10 months to go, Marvel is wasting no time getting us all worked up for the upcoming film of The Avengers.  Considering the amount of time and money the company has put into prepping for this film, it shouldn’t come as a surprise.

Released over the course of the San Diego Comic-Con was a series of seven character posters that would finally form one large image that showed you some of the history of each character as well as hints of what we’ll see in the new film.  (Is that a Helicarrier I see behind Hawkeye and the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents?)

• Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff / Black Widow
• Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
• Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk
• Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
• Chris Hemsworth as Thor
• Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye
• Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk
• Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
• Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson (S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent)
• Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill (S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent)

While I normally don’t care for films with too many characters in them, especially in the comic book genre, but the only new introductions out of all those characters I listed that are new to the series are Cobie Smulders of How I Met Your Mother as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye.  (Yes, Hawkeye appeared in Thor for a sum total of an eye blink, I don’t count it.)  If Marvel was going to try to introduce each character in this film I would go out of mind, but seeing as the characters have had their own films to prepare for this particular project, this concept works fine for me.

May 2012 can’t get here fast enough for me.

Can the world handle another dosage of the God of Thunder? Well, it better get ready as Thor 2 has gotten a release date.

While the first Thor film didn’t exactly burn up the box office compared to some of the other movies out there, that isn’t stopping Disney/Marvel from getting ready to release a sequel.  The film will hit screens on July 26, 2013, only about two months after Iron Man 3 hits on May 3, 2013.

Chris Hemsworth will be returning to the title role, but Director Kenneth Branaghwill not be back for the second film.  Reportedly his departure is not born out of any issues between him and the studio, but rather was a mutually agreed upon decision and was amicable on both parts.

No word on details such as a new director yet or if the script has even be started as of yet.

With the last few films building towards The Avengers coming out next year, I wonder if we’re now building towards The Avengers 2 by using solo movies to build things up again.  Obviously there is a master plan afoot here, we just don’t know what it is as of yet.

The movie news pouring out of San Diego Comic Con almost makes you forget this used to be a comic book convention.  With more movies based on comic books coming out than ever before, it figures that big announcements are made at this show, and they just keep coming.

(click any of the images for full-sized views)

Green Lantern

Sadly nothing was released after this panel other than the official movie logo.  There was some footage shown, but not to the general public to see, sadly.  Apparently it was pretty quick, showed the ring forming a giant fist to hit some criminals and so on.

Two great bits of news:

1. The costume we saw is not the final one we’ll see on screen, there is more refining to be done to it, and the black will stand out more.
2. A kid in the audience asked Ryan Reynolds to recite Hal Jordan’s oath … everyone reported that no words had been changed.  I am now much more at ease with the film.

There were other tidbits, but we’ll see how this film turns out.

Cowboys & Aliens

I have never read the comic this is based on, but the premise is pretty easy to grasp since it’s right in the title … aliens … in the old West.

It stars Daniel Craig as a mysterious stranger who arrives in town with an odd wrist band, and when alien ships arrive to shoot the town up, he shoots one of their ships down with his device.  Wackiness ensues from there.

It also stars Olivia Wilde as a saloon girl, Harrison Ford as … someone, he’s rumored to be a bad guy.  It’s also directed by Jon Favreau who has directed the two Iron Man movies.  He’s definitely shown he is capable of directing action, and it should prove to be an interesting movie.

I love the concept of this.  There won’t be any going to the mothership and using a Mac to install a virus malarkey.  We’ll have to see how this mysterious wrist weapon works into it, but sign me up as being highly interested.

The Avengers

Yes, more news on The Avengers, but it’s because Marvel had the bright idea to bring the whole cast together on stage and become the talk of the con.

From left-to-right

• Robert Downey Jr. – Tony Stark/Iron Man
• Clark Gregg – Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D.
• Scarlett Johansson – Black Widow
• Chris Hemsworth – Thor
• Chris Evans – Captain America
• Samuel L. Jackson – Nick Fury
• Jeremy Renner – Hawkeye
• Mark Ruffalo – Bruce Banner/Hulk
• Joss Whedon – Co-Writer/Director
• Kevin Feige – Marvel Studios’ President

The only two thins we learned from this was the re-casting of Bruce Banner, and we didn’t know for sure the Black Widow would be in the movie.  Even not in costumes, this line-up looks amazing … I can not wait for May 4, 2012.  The only thing missing is someone really should have yelled, “AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!”

Side note from the Marvel panel … The Punisher film rights now belong to Marvel again … can we please finally get a good Punisher movie now?

Although Thor isn’t due in theaters until May 6, 2011, Marvel is gearing up to start the promotion of this film.

Things get rolling in Iron Man 2 with an appearance by Mjöllnir, Thor’s hammer. I’ve seen the image already, and it is a dead on likeness to the comic book version. And just this morning, Marvel and Paramount released the first image of Chris Hemsworth in the Thor costume, and while you can’t see everything, what you can see looks pretty spot on to the armored costume the character wears from time to time.

There is a photo floating around out there of the Destroyer armor, an enchanted suit of armor that Loki sends to fight Thor, but Marvel is issuing DMCA take down notices for it, and having been DMCA’d once in my life already, I’m not anxious to do so again.

I’ve never been the biggest fan of the Thor series, but everything I’ve seen and heard so far is sounding like Marvel could have another hit on its hands.

Marvel Comics has found their Thor!

According to Nikki Finke, Chris Hemsworth has been cast as the God of Thunder in their upcomng Thor movie to be release May 20th, 2011.  If he looks familiar, it may be because he is currently playing George Kirk, the father of James T. Kirk, in the J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie.  He is also extremely familiar to Australians as the 25-year-old has appeared in 171 episodes of the hit show, Home and Away.

Supposedly there will be some other casting news for this film when the official press release comes out, but for now this should be enough to tide most people over.  Add in Kenneth Branagh as the director of the film, and there are going to be all sorts of accents flying around in his movie.

The big question that will haunt this movie up until premiere date is whether the movie going public is ready for a movie about a viking god.  Not sure how this will play with the mainstream movie going public.

At least they’ve got an actor locked for their lead role… unlike the Green Lantern movie project.